I ride on crappy, poorly maintained roads. Lots of potholes and cracks, some seriously nasty rr crossings (most are okay, but some have really wide spaces). If I slow down, on 23-25 tires, on a cobble-designed Cervo RS, it's okay, but I have to slow down a lot in some places to protect my bike.

On my old Stumpy hardtail, no problemo at all. Its an old bike, but I put on a Magura Laurin double-crown fork, Thudbuster seatpost and a Books Champion springer saddle. With Specialized Armadillo tires, because when it is cold, when it is at night, I don't really want to fix flats.

But it is slow. Against the wind, it's impossible to get aero and 31 pounds is not easy to push.

I was thinking maybe a CX with 32-35 tires might be good for this terrain. At night, when sometimes you can't help hitting nasties.

CC is selling some Ridley bikes, $3 thou up, that's okay, if they work well, and I can get a fit (my 58 RS is workin, I m 6'1''ish with 34 inseam ((crotch to floor)).

I'd like to hear people's ideas. I probably would want Ultegra or Force-level gruppo.

CF, steel or alu frame w/CF fork.

What are your thoughts out there?